Net Pay Change Letters

[Guest Art Mata]

Is a govermental plan required to mail a notice to annuitants when the NET PAY amount of their pension changes?

[jsb]

This is not my primary area, but I suspect that any notification requirement is dependent on the reason for the change.

My experience with our retirees is that they will call when changes occur, so you can head off some (but never all) of the calls by providing notice of changes. Our pension amounts used to be subject to change several times per year: 1st of the year tax rate changes, 1st of the year health plan rate changes, April 1st annual COLAS, July 1 changes to medical subsidy payment amounts. Some sort of notice was usually (but not always) sent to head off the phone calls, but I'm not sure these notices were sent due to any legislated requirement.

Actual reductions or increases in benefits would, I think, need to be noticed, but this will likely vary by state. In CA, the Government Code has a myriad of details about when and how notices must be provided.